Y'all know how much I love drawin' pigs, and with all this talk about lipstick and swine, I sensed an opportunity to throw out a new metaphor. Flowers will be the new lipstick, especially when the subject is Fairhope. Idyllic little Mayberry on the Bay, Fairhope is trimmed in seasonal flowers throughout the year.

But this is an election year, and one of the heated issues in Fairhope's mayor's race is the city's debt. Challenger Dean Mosher claims the city's financial situation is a big mess and the result of a shady "shell game," while incumbent Tim Kant says all is hunky dory.

Here is the most recent story about this Tuesday's election, written by one of the Press-Register's finest, Russ Henderson.

The flash and rhetoric of this year's mayoral campaign has been more colorful than a curbside flower container, and just a few days remain before Tuesday's runoff between two-term incumbent Tim Kant and challenger Dean Mosher.

"This has certainly been a one-of-a-kind election season," said Harvey Joanning, president of Citizens for Responsible Government, a nonpartisan group that sponsored debates before and after the Aug. 26 general election. "The candidates have been quite passionate. On one level that's good, and on another it's led to acrimony."

The mayoral race began this summer with a whopping seven candidates ? eight including Willie Bean, a yellow Labrador retriever injected as a spoof candidate by a local coffee shop owner. In the August election, Kant and Mosher emerged as the top vote-getters.

On Thursday, two of the summer's mayoral hopefuls announced their support for Mosher: Jack Burrell, an aeronautical engineer, and Chris Warner, a planning consultant.

"I have no ill will toward Tim. He's been nothing but a gentleman to me," Burrell said. "But I feel change is needed."

A central issue in the race has been city finances.

Mosher has accused the mayor of playing a "shell game" with the city's budget to hide deficits, if not from auditors then from citizens and City Council members.

Kant has said the city is in the black, and that the validity of city records has been backed up by annual audits.

According to records, the city and the utilities department have a total of $37 million in debt. Of that, $18 million is the city's and the remaining $19 million is the utilities department's. Fairhope's debt limit ? set by state law ? is $44.8 million.

Mosher said that, if you include $8 million in Fairhope Airport Authority debt for which the city is liable, the city is actually $45 million in debt.

The utilities department and the airport are not subject to the state's debt cap. The city, Mosher said, has been able to exceed its state-set debt limit only through technical rules.

Kant said Thursday that the city's budget is prepared and administered by staffers Nancy Wilson, the city's treasurer, and Rose Fogarty, the city's financial reporter.

Wilson and Fogarty said that no mayor ? whether Kant or Mosher ? could tell them how to handle the budget even if he wanted to because everything they do is governed by the national Governmental Accounting Standards Board.

"If you don't like my leadership style, you can fuss at me," Kant said. "But the staffers are only doing what they're supposed to by law. They shouldn't get pulled into the politics."

Mosher said he wasn't trying to injure staffers but to bring to light the full extent of the city's debt.

Kant has depicted Mosher as a tax-and-spend liberal who wants to raise city revenues ? perhaps by increasing property taxes ? to take on massive projects like constructing greenways for bicycle, foot and golf cart traffic.

Mosher has said he wouldn't take on projects the city could not afford. He has suggested that the city increase revenue by annexing the areas to the east and south of current city limits.

The mayoral race has been by far the city's most expensive, with the seven candidates together raising more than $154,000 to fund their campaigns before the municipal election. Since the August election, Kant raised $16,467 and Mosher $10,633, according to campaign filings recorded Thursday.

Tuesday's balloting also will include a runoff for City Council Place 2. That race has seen its own acrimony, as Danny Corte has aggressively challenged one-term incumbent Dan Stankoski.